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Coinbase is launching support for the USDC stablecoin

blog.coinbase.com

361–370 of 388 posts

Re: Coinbase is launching support for the USDC stablecoin

#361
post #87

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is wrong on several levels. Decentralization was not for transactions, it is for censorship resistance. These exchange stable coins fail this requirement. As anyone who has been licked out of an exchange account knows, your funds are never yours when they're on an exchange, much less if the only place to redeem those coins is a place that has locked you out. Your observations about the community is flawed. Many…

>For the latter, you need to be reading a place like bitcointalk. BitcoinTalk is the launchpad of virtually every ICO that has violated these core principles. I am very skeptical of your claim that it's a haven for those who care about the technology and its principles when they have boards solely dedicated to announcement of new ICOs: https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?board=159.0

bitcointalk is the canonical location for most of the discussion regarding cryptocurrency and has been for years. They have a lot of ancillary boards, but the foundation of the board is the tech.

Re: Coinbase is launching support for the USDC stablecoin

#362

Hi, I'm Anders Brownworth, Chief Evangelist at Circle. I'm happy to answer any questions on USD Coin, CENTRE or Circle. We're also hiring! See https://circle.careers/

What has the SEC said about this endeavor? Who are your custodian banks (how many)? Who are your auditors? Will you be holding exactly one USD for one token? Will the backing be just USD sitting in a custodian account or do you plan to invest them? How are you going to deal with the fact that your custodians will likely be doing fractional reserve themselves? How will you guarantee fungibility of the token?

Circle works with a wide variety of regulatory agencies around the world. I'm not aware of anything the SEC has said publicly about USDC.

We work with a number of banking partners around the world but generally don't publicize this information.

Circle will begin publishing its USDC-related reports on centre.io after public launch. We have engaged Grant Thornton LLP to apply on a monthly basis certain agreed-upon procedures to assist management regarding the accuracy of USD reserve balances for the USD stablecoin tokens issued as set forth by the Company.

We will hold exactly one USD for one token. In the future, we may also invest these fiat funds in highly-liquid, AAA-rated fixed income securities.

The coins minted by both Circle and Coinbase are mutually fungible. You could acquire USDC from one and redeem it at the other. Support for multiple issuers is an important differentiator for USDC.

More information on this is available at https://support.usdc.circle.com/hc/en-us/articles/3600152783...

Re: Coinbase is launching support for the USDC stablecoin

#363

Hi, I'm Anders Brownworth, Chief Evangelist at Circle. I'm happy to answer any questions on USD Coin, CENTRE or Circle. We're also hiring! See https://circle.careers/

What has the SEC said about this endeavor? Who are your custodian banks (how many)? Who are your auditors? Will you be holding exactly one USD for one token? Will the backing be just USD sitting in a custodian account or do you plan to invest them? How are you going to deal with the fact that your custodians will likely be doing fractional reserve themselves? How will you guarantee fungibility of the token?

[deleted]

Re: Coinbase is launching support for the USDC stablecoin

#364
post #47

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The tokens only have value as long as your tokens are redeemable. Multiple things can make them non-redeemable: * Your tokens can be tainted, for instance because they were once owned by a blacklisted address. The value of your tokens will be effectively 0. * The issuer might run a fractional reserve (this is the accusation against Tether, the most popular stablecoin at the moment) * The asset backing the stablecoin…

> The issuer might run a fractional reserve (this is the accusation against Tether, the most popular stablecoin at the moment) Very important to note - a stablecoin running a "fractional reserve" in the way that people talk about would just be fraudulent/insolvent. Modern banks have actually never operated under the "fractional reserve" model as described in economics textbooks, but it's true that they only a fractio…

> Modern banks have actually never operated under the "fractional reserve" model as described in economics textbooks

How do they operate, if not under the fractional reserve model?

Re: Coinbase is launching support for the USDC stablecoin

#365
post #11

Stablecoins seem like they would achieve most of the goals of the original cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin: - Decentralized transactions - 24/7 access - Low fees - Store of value I suppose the only drawback here is that they're issued from a centralized authority. That said, for practical purposes the vast majority of Bitcoin holders didn't mine their own coins either. Despite this, no one on Twitter[1] seemed excit…

It's worth mentioning the KUSD project by Kowala Tech https://www.kowala.tech/ which is a stablecoin that tries to achieve the 1:1 price relation by controlling the coin supply depending on the exchange price (by using oracles).

Re: Coinbase is launching support for the USDC stablecoin

#366

Can someone please explain the functional superiority of this over, say, a Venmo balance?

It uses blockchain technology to handle transferring funds as apposed to something like Visa.

Visa processes transactions much faster, is accepted universally, has AML/fraud/chargeback insurance, and costs about 2.4% of transaction volume. This has none of those and transaction costs are TBD. I’m not trying to be a sceptic but I’m not yet convinced. “It’s decentralized” is not an argument unto itself and certainly not an argument of functional superiority. If anything it’s slower, harder to use, and more risky. I don’t care if my payment system is on Visa or AWS or a blockchain. I care that it’s fast and secure. I care that when a merchant defrauds me I get my money back.

Re: Coinbase is launching support for the USDC stablecoin

#367

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Define "economy growing", all the way to the end.

You can replace "grow" with "function" if you prefer.

No, I'm going to hold you to the original word, because, if you look around - that's what's happening.

Our population grows. Our footprint grows. Our consumption and waste grow.

Nobody, besides those highest, benefit from this style of function.

Re: Coinbase is launching support for the USDC stablecoin

#368

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Please don't take this the wrong way, but you sound financially illiterate. Cash is not meant to be held long term. It's meant to be spent or invested. That's how the economy continues to grow.

> you sound financially illiterate That's not really something that can be taken as anything other than an insult. On HN we like points to be made without personal swipes. Aside from making this place a more pleasant place to be, points are often more persuasive that way.

I was just trying to be direct. What would be a more polite way to say that?

Re: Coinbase is launching support for the USDC stablecoin

#369

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You can replace "grow" with "function" if you prefer.

No, I'm going to hold you to the original word, because, if you look around - that's what's happening. Our population grows. Our footprint grows. Our consumption and waste grow. Nobody, besides those highest, benefit from this style of function.

Yes, human civilization has been doing this for quite a long time. I'm not really sure what your point is relative to inflation.

Re: Coinbase is launching support for the USDC stablecoin

#370
post #93

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Mail it. And if you're going to split hairs by saying DHL, USPS, and FedEx are considered third parties, then so are Comcast, Verizon, and other ISPs who provide you the means to transact.

Comcast, Verizon, etc. can't intercept your Bitcoins, but DHL, USPS can intercept your cash.

Which is a problem 99.99% of people don't have.
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